II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 865 

To provide grants to promote financial literacy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 2, 2011 

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself and Mr. COCHRAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To provide grants to promote financial literacy. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Financial and Eco5 nomic Literacy Improvement Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINANCIAL LITERACY EDUCATION GRANTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part D of title V of the Elemen8 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

9 7241 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 5537 

10 the following: 


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1 ‘‘Subpart 13A—Financial Literacy Education 

2 ‘‘SEC. 5538. FINANCIAL LITERACY EDUCATION GRANTS. 

3 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary shall award 

4 grants to eligible entities to enable such entities— 

5 ‘‘(1) to award subgrants to local entities to pro6 vide financial literacy education; and 

7 ‘‘(2) to carry out activities designed to promote 

8 financial literacy education. 

9 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—In this section, the term 

10 ‘eligible entity’ means— 

11 ‘‘(1) a State educational agency; or 

12 ‘‘(2) a State partnership consisting of— 

13 ‘‘(A) a State educational agency; and 

14 ‘‘(B) a nonprofit organization with experi15 ence and a proven quality track record in finan16 cial literacy or personal finance education pro17 grams. 

18 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires to 

19 receive a grant under this section shall submit an applica20 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 

21 accompanied by such information as the Secretary may 

22 require. 

23 ‘‘(d) FORMULA.—From the total amount appro24 priated under subsection (g) for a fiscal year, the Sec25 retary shall allot to each State for such fiscal year an 

26 amount that bears the same relation to such total amount 


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1 as the amount such State received under part A of title 

2 I for such fiscal year bears to the total amount received 

3 by all States under part A of title I for such fiscal year. 

4 ‘‘(e) USE OF FUNDS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) SUBGRANTS TO ELIGIBLE LOCAL ENTI6 TIES.— 

7 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE LOCAL ENTITY.—In this 

8 section, the term ‘eligible local entity’ means— 

9 ‘‘(i) a local educational agency; or 

10 ‘‘(ii) a local partnership consisting 

11 of— 

12 ‘‘(I) a local educational agency; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(II) not less than 1 of the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(aa) A nonprofit organiza17 tion with experience and a proven 

18 track record in quality financial 

19 literacy or personal finance edu20 cation programs. 

21 ‘‘(bb) An educational service 

22 agency. 

23 ‘‘(cc) A recipient of an Ex24 cellence in Economic Education 

25 grant under subpart 13. 


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1 ‘‘(dd) An institution of high2 er education. 

3 ‘‘(ee) A community organi4 zation. 

5 ‘‘(ff) A representative of 

6 local business. 

7 ‘‘(B) AUTHORIZATION OF SUBGRANTS.— 

8 An eligible entity that receives a grant under 

9 this section shall use 75 percent of such grant 

10 funds to award subgrants to eligible local enti11 ties. 

12 ‘‘(C) APPLICATIONS.— 

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An eligible local 

14 entity that desires to receive a subgrant 

15 under this paragraph shall submit an ap16 plication to the eligible entity at such time, 

17 in such manner, and accompanied by such 

18 information as the eligible entity may re19 quire. 

20 ‘‘(ii) REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS.—The 

21 eligible entity shall review applications sub22 mitted under clause (i) in the same man23 ner as applications are reviewed under sec24 tion 5534(b). 


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1 ‘‘(D) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible local 

2 entity that receives a subgrant under this para3 graph— 

4 ‘‘(i) shall use the subgrant funds to— 

5 ‘‘(I) implement teacher training 

6 programs to embed financial literacy 

7 and personal finance education into 

8 core academic subjects; 

9 ‘‘(II) administer financial literacy 

10 assessments on not less than an an11 nual basis in, at a minimum, the 

12 grade levels selected by the State pur13 suant to paragraph (2)(A); and 

14 ‘‘(III) implement financial lit15 eracy activities and sequences of study 

16 within core academic subjects; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) may use the subgrant funds to 

18 implement school-based activities, including 

19 after school activities, to enhance student 

20 understanding and experiential learning 

21 with consumer, economic, and personal fi22 nance concepts. 

23 ‘‘(E) REPORT.—An eligible local entity 

24 that receives a subgrant under this paragraph 

25 shall include in the annual report card under 


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1 section 1111(h)(2) the same information on 

2 student achievement on the financial literacy 

3 assessments, administered pursuant to subpara4 graph (D), as required, pursuant to section 

5 1111(h)(2), of the other State academic assess6 ments described in section 1111(b)(3). 

7 ‘‘(2) STATE ACTIVITIES.—An eligible entity 

8 that receives a grant under this section shall use 25 

9 percent of such grant funds to carry out the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(A) The development of financial literacy 

12 standards in not less than 3 grade levels, in13 cluding not less than 1 grade level in elemen14 tary school, not less than 1 grade level in mid15 dle school, and not less than 1 grade level in 

16 high school. 

17 ‘‘(B) The development of appropriate fi18 nancial literacy assessments in the grade levels 

19 determined under subparagraph (A) that are 

20 valid, reliable, and comparable across the State. 

21 ‘‘(C) Teacher professional development 

22 programs to embed financial literacy or per23 sonal finance education into core academic sub24 jects. 


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1 ‘‘(D) An evaluation of the impact of finan2 cial literacy or personal finance education on 

3 students’ understanding of financial literacy 

4 concepts. 

5 ‘‘(f) MATCHING FUNDS.—An eligible entity that re6 ceives a grant under this section shall provide, from non7 Federal sources, an amount equal to 25 percent of the 

8 amount of the grant award to carry out activities required 

9 under this section. 

10 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

11 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

12 $125,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2012 through 

13 2017.’’. 

14 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

15 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

16 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

17 to section 5537 the following: 

‘‘Subpart 13A—Financial Literacy Education 

‘‘Sec. 5538. Financial literacy education grants.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO PROMOTE POSTSECONDARY FINANCIAL 

19 LITERACY. 

20 Part A of title III of the Higher Education Act of 

21 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1057 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

22 the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 320A. GRANTS TO PROMOTE POSTSECONDARY FINAN2 CIAL LITERACY. 

3 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT AWARDS.—The Sec4 retary shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligi5 ble entities to enable such entities to provide financial lit6 eracy courses or course components to students. 

7 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec8 tion, the term ‘eligible entity’ means— 

9 ‘‘(1) an institution of higher education; or 

10 ‘‘(2) a partnership consisting of— 

11 ‘‘(A) an institution of higher education; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(B) a nonprofit organization with experi14 ence and a proven track record in quality finan15 cial literacy or personal finance education pro16 grams. 

17 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires to 

18 receive a grant under this section shall submit an applica19 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 

20 accompanied by such information as the Secretary may 

21 require. 

22 ‘‘(d) MINIMUM GRANT AMOUNT.—The Secretary 

23 shall award grants under this section in amounts of not 

24 less than $500,000. 

25 ‘‘(e) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 

26 a grant under this section shall use the grant funds to 


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1 develop and implement financial literacy education, activi2 ties, student organizations, or counseling that increase 

3 student knowledge in consumer, economic, and personal 

4 financial concepts. 

5 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

6 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

7 $125,000,000.’’. 

Æ 


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